Sunday, April 14, 2013
Supporters hail move; critics say the changes would force many clinics in the state that offer the procedure to shut down.
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Sunday, April 14
By Dana Carlson Capital News Service RICHMOND – The Virginia Board of Health voted Friday to require abortion clinics to meet hospital building-code standards – rules that abortion rights activists said would force many of the state’s 20 clinics to close. Abortion rights advocates responded to the board’s 11-2 vote by singing and waving signs. Security guards escorted the protesters, including Jeff Winder of the group Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, out of the meeting room at Perimeter Center in Henrico County. “This is a sham,” Winder earlier told the board. “We pretend we are participating in a democratic process. You have caved in to the right-wing agenda of Ken Cuccinelli.” Last summer, Cuccinelli, the state attorney …
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The governor's amended transportation bill should eliminate the fee on hybrid cars, according to some Northern Virginia Legislators.
Governor Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday that he was making a number of amendments to his massive transportation bill, including lowering the fee for hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles, but some legislators aren’t happy. Among other changes, McDonnell has proposed lowering the annual fee for alternative fuel vehicles from $100 to $64. “Virginia’s economy depends upon a safe, reliable, efficient transportation system spanning all areas of the Commonwealth,” McDonnell said in a statement. “This is why I have substantially agreed to the provisions in the compromise bill that passed our legislature.” But Northern Virginia Delegates Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) and Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) argue the tax should be eliminated from the bill …
Friday, February 22, 2013
The bill aiming to build consensus around Bob McDonnell's plan to bring $3 billion to transportation projects met with mixed reviews.
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Friday, February 22
By Whitney Spicer Capital News Service Critics of the transportation funding compromise reached by legislative negotiators say the plan would place a huge burden on Virginia taxpayers. The Virginia House of Delegates Friday passed House Bill 2313, which would raise about $900 million a year for transportation and transit projects. The 98-page compromise must win approval the Senate before it can be signed into law by the governor. The legislative session ends Saturday. The new plan, which was hammered out by a 10-member conference committee over the past week, would potentially raise close to $900 million a year in transportation revenue. It could be the first transportation funding overhaul in Virginia since 1986 if it passes this week…
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Funding package was derailed by Virginia Senate Democrats late Tuesday, though the House version of the legislation still has a chance for approval.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, February 7
By Whitney Spicer and Alix Hines, Capital News Service All 20 of Virginia's Democratic senators — including Loudoun-area Sens. Mark Herring (D-33) and Barbara Favola (D-31) — voted against Gov. Bob McDonnell's transportation plan late Tuesday, effectively blocking the Senate's version of the proposal for this legislative session. The move makes it less likely Gov. Bob McDonnell will pass a transportation package in his last year in office. While the House amended and approved a version of the plan, HB 2313, earlier Tuesday, sending it to the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Democrats "vowed to block any proposal that generated less than $1.2 billion a year in new roads money," the Washington Examiner reports. That opposition is what …
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Petersen: Republican effort to end winner-take-all system is 'anti-Democratic'
A Republican-led effort to end the Old Dominion's traditional winner-take-all approach to picking a president has drawn national attention and could weaken the influence of voters in urban areas like Northern Virginia. The bill, authored by state Sen. Charles Carrico, a Galax Republican, would divvy up electoral collage votes based on who wins each of this state's 11 congressional districts. Carrico has said that the current system casts aside the wishes of rural voters and that his bill is an attempt to even the playing field, according to the Roanoke Times. More broadly, proponents in the GOP say the new system would better reflect the popular vote. The bill heads to the full Senate Privileges and Elections Committee next week. Gov. Bob …
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
As Virginia GOP pushes for control of panel, resistance continues with court ruling against governor
As legislation proposed by U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10) works its way through Congress to rework the membership of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Virginia leaders and the existing board remain tied up in court over the current membership. A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge ruled against Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) on Monday, leaving one seat on the MWAA board vacant as the parties resolve the dispute. McDonnell attempted to remove Dennis Martire — a Democratic appointee who has come under fire for a $9,000 plane ticket to Prague for a transportation conference that MWAA authorized — and replace him with Caren Merrick, a Republican who lost her run for delegate in the 31st District last fall. At issue is whether McDonnell had …
Ann H Csonka
4:35 pm on Saturday, February 23, 2013
The Guv loves more highway lanes, yet pretends to remove the gas tax (for those who use the highway and shift it to wholesale which indirectly increases the cost of gasoline--what a dumb dishonest way to tax consumers). The Guv's boondoggle new Rt. 460 is opposed by those in the area, destroys precious wetlands, and the money would be better-spent on improvements ot the parallel existing highway… more ›